Arts, Briefly; Country, by Van Morrison

By PHIL SWEETLAND; Compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder

Published: December 27, 2005

Van Morrison, above right, has signed with Lost Highway, a Universal Music/Nashville imprint whose roster also includes Willie Nelson, and is preparing an album called ''Pay the Devil,'' featuring covers of famous and lesser-known country and blues songs, for March release. Billboard reports that the new CD includes Mr. Morrison's versions of Hank Williams's ''Your Cheatin' Heart'' and ''My Bucket's Got a Hole in It,'' as well as his rendition of Webb Pierce's ''There Stands the Glass,'' a groundbreaking song about alcoholism that many radio stations initially refused to play in 1953. A cover of the blues great Big Joe Turner's ''Don't You Make Me High'' is also included. Mr. Morrison, 60, the Irish singer whose ''Brown Eyed Girl,'' ''Domino'' and ''Gloria'' have all become rock standards, has never had a song on the Billboard country charts. PHIL SWEETLAND